Making Truth: Metaphor in Science - Hardcover

Brown, Theodore L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0252028104 ISBN 13: 9780252028106

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2003

Synopsis

A new perspective on how scientists reason about the world, design and interpret experiments and communicate with one another and with the larger society outside science.

About this title

Review:

"Anyone with a serious interest in science must read this book. In it, Brown demonstrates that metaphorical thought is central in all branches of science, just as it is in everyday life and mathematics. Particles as waves, time as a spatial dimension, gravity as the curvature of space-time, ion channels, protein folding. All these crucial scientific metaphors--and many more--allow us to understand science in terms of our embodied experience, build comprehensible models, make predictions, and perform precise calculations." -- George Lakoff, coauthor of Metaphors We Live By, Philosophy in the Flesh, and Where Mathematics Comes From "This is an important book. Scientists will find it thought-provoking, and science teachers will find it a gold mine. Indeed, this book could be transforming for science education at the elementary, high school, and introductory college level." -- Linda S. Wilson, president emerita of Radcliffe College and coauthor of Who Succeeds in Science? The Gender Dimension

Synopsis:

In "Making Truth: Metaphor in Science", Theodore L. Brown argues that most laypeople, and many scientists, do not have a clear understanding of how metaphor relates to scientific thinking. With stunning clarity, and bridging the worlds of scientists and nonscientists, Brown demonstrates the presence and the power of metaphorical thought. To illustrate the roles of metaphor in science, Brown presents a series of studies of scientific systems. These range from the atom, historically one of the most important ideas in science, through models in chemistry and biology, including current "hot" topics such as protein folding, chaperone proteins, and global warming. The case studies in "Making Truth" illustrate the deeply metaphorical nature of scientific reasoning and communication. They provide the basis for far-reaching conclusions about science as an intellectual and social practice and about the nature of scientific truth.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0252028104
• ISBN 13: 9780252028106
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232